World Literature I: Beginnings to 1650

Reviewed by Suzanne Bessenger, Associate Professor, Randolph College on 12/3/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text provides a selection of texts appropriate to a survey of Asian religions course.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Translations are accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The text's translations are antiquated, but not so much so that they would be unusable in an undergraduate classroom.

Clarity rating: 4

Again, the translations are antiquated, which makes them not as accessible as more recent translations. They remain usable, however. The introductions to each region from which the texts are drawn are short, but clear.

Consistency rating: 5

The formatting and quality of the book is consistent throughout.

Modularity rating: 3

Unfortunately, this book is only available as three PDFs. The reader thus needs to scroll down through each PDF to find the appropriate page. Hypertext links would improve the navigability of the text.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text is clearly organized by geographical region, with each book section beginning with short descriptions of historical eras and regions.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is a PDF document. Although this format makes for slow navigability, it has the virtue of being free of interface problems.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

In my perusal of the text, I encountered no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is a survey of world literature, and thus is inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and cultures. In my perusal of the text, I encountered nothing insensitive.

Reviewed by Rebecca Sailor, Professor, Humanities, Aims Community College on 6/24/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book comprehensively covers ancient literature to 1600 with key works.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This book draws from high quality translations. The authors combine translations and make improvements when needed.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book will maintain longevity for some time; these works will not fade in terms of importance.

Clarity rating: 4

This text combines the best free texts available to date. There are more accessible, fresh versions of many of these stories, but they are unlikely to be able to provided for free.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent with a reliable structure: effective introductions and reading questions are present at each new section.

Modularity rating: 3

This book is effective in terms of modularity; there are clear sections provided in the table of contents, but it would be easy to create a class according to different modules such as geography, heroes/epics, etc. However, because the texts are provided in their entirety, they are quite long. This could make it difficult to create shorter thematic sections around topics.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This text is clearly organized around geographical locations, and there are excellent introductions to each chapter. Textual notes on the part of the authors help to provide context.

Interface rating: 3

The interface is not significantly flawed, but there is some room for improvement. For example, adding document links that hop from the table of contents (TOC) to the page where the selection begins (and links that hop from the end of a selection back to the TOC) would help the reader navigate more quickly when searching for something, since this .pdf quite lengthy. Additionally, adding subsections to the TOC would help the reader navigate more quickly. For example, if there are multiple books or translations in each work, having the TOC list those subsections/page numbers would be helpful.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

This work is excellently edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

This edition reflects ample diversity. However, there is an opportunity to add even more sources; for example, poetry of Sappho and the Book of the Dead might be nice additions.

Comments

I'm grateful that this book has been created and provided for students' and instructors' use. It is extremely convenient to have these sources combined for use in literature, humanities, and history courses. Thank you!

Reviewed by Jessica Tvordi, Associate Professor, Southern Utah University on 8/2/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

For a compact anthology, this title is comprehensive in in coverage of world literature—from Ancient Greece and Rome, to Asia and India, to medieval and Renaissance Europe, to Native American texts of the New World. Unfortunately, it does not include any women writers, which is beyond unfortunate given that they work acknowledges in its introduction the importance of some of these works in examining the roles of women. If I used any one of the texts three sections, I would need to supplement, especially for Part 3.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate, error-free, and unbiased to the best of my knowledge (given the anthology's historical scope).

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The authors successfully situate the literary works within the broader culture, history, and geopolitics of the ancient world through the Renaissance in a way that is informative and unbiased. Thus, subsequent research on these areas would not render the work obsolete, and any changes to the framework for the anthology of texts would be minimal. The lack of women writers, however, may make this text seem outdated to some potential adopters.

Clarity rating: 5

The introductory sections are written clearly, and will be easily accessible to undergraduate students. The text is low in jargon, and the tone seems geared toward sophomore or less experienced students—maybe even non-majors.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework across the three parts.

Modularity rating: 5

I think the text is successful in this regard, keeping in my that this is not a textbook conveying information but rather an anthology of literary works. For that reason, there are large blocks of text without subheadings, but there's really no way to avoid that.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization makes sense and is consistence across the the parts or volumes of the text.

Interface rating: 5

The text has no interface issues—it is easy to navigate and created no confusion for the reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text is culturally relevant with regards to nation and ethnicity, but excludes women writers, which will make this book less competitive than the conventionally published anthologies which have been addressing this issue for decades.

Comments

I found the student engagement questions included in each part very helpful and relevant. The writers are very attuned to the needs/limitations of undergraduate readers of classic literature, and this is something I would like to see in more anthologies. I also appreciate that the text is set up to be used thematically and comparatively—again, the writers have offered something that the instructor usually has to work out herself.

Reviewed by Rachael Hammond, Lecturer, Shenandoah University on 5/21/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Creating a text such as this one could be daunting. The text is already separated into three pdf’s, so including more texts could become unwieldy at some point.

Including more introductory notes on form might be helpful. Those already provided are strongly composed and quite helpful. For instance, the introduction to Homer provides great background information on the consistent appreciation for Homer’s writing talents. However, the note, if longer, could address the beauty of the original poems, especially since the translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey are in a prose-like form. At the same time, thought, the poetic translation of The Aeneid, which is included, does provide counterpoint lessons not only on approaches to epic storytelling but also on approaches to translation work itself.

Also, perhaps including more Dante and even just a few samples of Boethius and Petrarch could enliven the European portion of the second book, particularly inasmuch as they could further exemplify the shift from medieval European to the Renaissance European cultural mindsets. The pictures accompanying the Canterbury Tales are great; including some introductory notes on illuminated manuscripts and the craft of writing could enliven that portion of the text while also positioning a great comparison with how that craft developed and evolved in other key cultures featured in the text.

The third book ably crosses the Atlantic, with the inclusion of various Native American pieces. They deliver wonderful examples for demonstrating both a contrast of cultural perspectives as well as a commentary on the universal human experience. Including some Francis Bacon in the third book could prove a meaningful addition, as well, especially given the rise of the essay.

Otherwise, including samples of South America and Africa could further strengthen the text’s comprehensives while also offering professors opportunities for still more comparisons of mythologies. –But again, as the books are already lengthy, decisions about what to include must certainly be difficult.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Translations comprise the bulk of the textbook. The translators include both recent quality translations as well as those long-revered (such as Samuel Butler). Editorial acumen seems exhaustive and precise.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Both the texts themselves and the introductory sections are relevant, particularly for a world literature or an ancient literature course. The editors’ notes are clear and gently illuminate the timeless relevance of the text’s contents. The works included in this book are timeless classics that comment on universal literary themes. In addition, the works provide great grounding for students who need to develop their ability to recognize Classical allusions in other literary works.

Clarity rating: 5

The translations and unit introductions are clear. The text also includes some helpful tools to help students in better understanding the works of literature and the cultures of the authors and original readers/listeners. For instance, the introduction to The Aeneid includes a helpful chart that helps students to understand the comparisons of the Greek versus the Roman forms of the ancient gods.

Consistency rating: 4

The three books demonstrate an effort to balance both the cultures and the genres represented in the given time period.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is clearly delineated in the table of contents, allowing professors to use the text either in a cultural approach, an historical approach, a thematic approach, and/or a form or genre approach.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The introduction itself read, “A word to the instructor: The texts have been chosen with the idea that they can be compared and contrasted, using common themes.” The text does follow through on this claim, and it complements my plan for an ancient literature course that I am designing. The flow is logical, and the text is organized in a manner that allows professors to assign readings in any way that seems more appropriate for the given course.

Interface rating: 4

The interface is user friendly. The unit introductions generally include engaging images and photographs. They enliven the screen, which is especially helpful as this book is quite sizeable. (Some free online sources do not seem to include many or any images, so the inclusion here is a visual treat for the professor and could help to improve the readability for students who might other wise experience some screen fatigue.) Using the command-F or the control-F short cut, depending on your computer type, is a helpful tool for navigating large texts such as these.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The grammar use, overall, is both strong and graceful. The text’s tone is sometimes conversational; however, since some students might consider these works daunting, the conversational tone, combined with the occasional vivid images, might put such students at greater ease.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text seems to navigate aspects of cultural difference with much ease. –Given the nature of this book’s content, that is important. In fact, some of the introductory notes provide suggestions for assignments and activities that will help students to consider cultural and historical differences, in an objective manner, while studying these texts. However, placing the two versions of the Bible before Gilgamesh could appear as a hierarchical decision to some readers who might date Gilgamesh earlier and thus place it earlier in the anthology.

Comments

The appendices include very helpful links to the original texts. I found the text helpful and plan include it in an undergraduate ancient literature course that I will be teaching in a few months. Overall, the text provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking anthology of many of the world's greatest texts.

Reviewed by Aimee Barrios, Instructor, Southeastern Louisiana University on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text covers an impressive range of materials, but the omission of Middle Eastern and African literature, especially The Arabian Nights, is glaring. The index is effective, but the commentary and annotation are weak. More textual support (guided discussion questions, etc.) would be helpful.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

No errors in content were noted, and the text seems unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is very relevant. The author did a good job of choosing texts that are seminal and clearly influential. The thematic overview is also helpful.

Clarity rating: 4

The writing level is actually quite accessible which is helpful for non-majors who might be required to take a World Lit course. More context would be useful.

Consistency rating: 5

The text seems consistent in terminology, framework and formatting

Modularity rating: 4

The divisions in the text work well, but the excerpts are too long. For example, including two versions of the bible without annotation is not very useful. Breaking up long sections of text with comprehension questions would be helpful to reluctant readers.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The ordering was a little confusing at parts. For example, the Hebrew text is presented before Gilgamesh which is confusing since Gilgamesh predates it by so many years. Annotation between selections to transition and draw comparisons would be useful.

Interface rating: 4

The text was easy to navigate; the visuals were helpful and easy to enlarge on a screen. I found it frustrating to navigate within long selections, however. A sidebar with hyperlinks would help a lot. Also, is it possible to embed video ciips in the text to break up the reading and reenforce comprehension?

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There were no obvious grammatical errors in this text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There were no selections by women writers and no African texts. A pre-colonial text, like the Epic of Son Sara, would provide a good perspective.

Reviewed by Albrecht Classen, Univ. Distinguished Prof., University of Arizona on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The scope of this textbook is huge, trying to cover the early history of literature in Europe, the Middle East, India, Japan, and China, extending from the ancient period to the end of the fifteenth century. The authors have made a selection that presents, indeed, some of the most important texts composed in those areas and periods. So we find the Old Testament, the epic of Gilgamesh, The Tale of Genji, and others. No one can be an expert and we constantly face huge challenges when we cross cultural borders. This textbook takes students to many different worlds, and at the end of the course they will probably be well informed about the truly major texts produced then and there. I wonder, however, whether those huge reading sections are the best in conveying to students the complexity and richness of the material. While scrolling through the book, I got rather irritated about the vastness of the material, considering that so many cultures and periods need to be considered. Does it make sense to ask students to read such long sections? I am afraid that they will not do that anyway, esp. not with an online textbook. We can applaud the authors to be so ambitious, but it would have been much more useful if there had been small pieces along with a thorough group of guiding questions. There are brief introductions, but they often do not say very much. Wherever I felt more like an expert, I was rather disappointed about the low quality of those remarks. But altogether, the selection is pretty comprehensive in what the editors intend. But many other texts could have been utilized, especially those written by women, which are not presented here. A discussion about this would have been helpful.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Since the intros. are fairly short and general, there is not much to be worried about. The students get basic facts, but mostly they are left wondering what the texts might be about and why they are supposed to read them. There are virtually no efforts to didacticize them.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The entire concept of world literature is a good one, but it comes with a lot of problems because the essential idea is to compare those texts with each other. But the cultural and historical background is so vastly different. I am afraid that students will get bored very quickly, esp. because they will not be able to recognize the significance of the texts. They are all certainly relevant, but how would the beginner know this? Basically, it might be much cheaper and easier to ask students to purchase individual textbooks or to read the texts online in other databases.

Clarity rating: 4

Overall, well done, very clear structure, clear introductions. However, it is very difficult to scroll through this book, there are no hyperlinks, one cannot jump from one text to the other, apart from doing a global search. Using this book on my laptop was very difficult and uncomfortable; easier on the PC. The authors write in a very clear, accessible English.

Consistency rating: 4

This is the kind of textbook that were produced over the last decades, and the intros. and other accompanying texts are clear and understandable. There is no particular jargon, so this is good for freshmen students.

Modularity rating: 2

Not at all; there are huge junks of text, and one cannot easily work through the sections to move on.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The structure is well done, geographical and chronological order are good.

Interface rating: 1

The interface is practically not existent. Why is this even an online book? Nothing of the powers of the hyperlink system is utilized. The images and maps are nice, but I feel frustrated that the image on the cover, the Ebstorf World Map, is not even identified. This goes back to the same issues; this is a textbook with no pedagogical strategies and hardly any didacticizing efforts, apart from a few very general questions.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not observe any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

The issue of cultural relevance is hardly mentioned, and the readers will not easily understand why this text selection has been made. The instructor will have to work very hard on his/her own to utilize those texts in the classroom and to build connections between the Western and the Eastern sections.